The best in visual journalism

East Top / In Depth

1st Place

MDelGiudice WNBC

9 10 10 10 A nearly flawless package. Starting with people on the street was a nice touch, although it did dilute the story by delaying revealing the main subject. It was a minor delay, though. There were striking shots in and out of important sots...they had that wow factor Plenty of great set-up and reveal nats that paced the story well. The dissolve effect on the Pepsi sign was a terrific idea. You really took a story that was essentially about a meeting of city officials and made it sing. The only recommendation I would make is maybe bringing the story back around full circle back at some of the original landmarks from the beginning.
9 10 9 10 Excellent package! Stands out from the rest to me. Exceptional shooting, editing and pacing here. The only thing that bothered me just a bit was the beginning where you have beautiful, well composed shots and nice crisp nats and quick little soundbites, but it was almost to quick to the point it was hard to follow what was going on and you really had to strain to understand what was being said. Besides that it all played out beautifully. Nice teamwork and commitment here, you guys should be proud of this piece!
9 9 9 9

2nd Place

Ruth Morton WBFF

8 8 9 9 Uncommon access into a dispatch center AND a ridealong! You had some creative editing touches. Weaving the dispatch nats throughout the story was a good call. You maybe had one too many nat pops here though. So much so, that it slowed the pace of the otherwise fast story and diluded the meaning of your reporter tracks. There were a couple times when you go straight from a nat pop of her on dispatch straight into an interview shot. While it wasn't a jump cut, I felt like a cutaway would have felt smoother. Example: you pop her and then she is next talking about how difficult it is for people here...that should have been that wide cubicle shot you used a little later. Excellent execution of a big picture story.
8 8 8 9 Very nicely done here! The sign of a good videographer is someone that can take a woman sitting in one spot, in a small cubicle and make it engaging and seem like you are still all over the place. I liked the quick crisp nats of her calling out. Getting that mic close to where the sound is is key and you did it nicely. I liked the commitment of going out with an officer and getting the side of the others on the other end of the calls. I'm not sure you really needed to include the other dispatcher, it really didn't add alot to the story for me. I think you would have been just fine staying with just her. One thing I would have liked to have known is why did she even decide to get into this profession? Was there anything that could have been a good little layer to the story you could have peeled back? Like this story alot. Be proud of the work you did on this.
8 8 8 8

3rd Place

3rd Chris Munnings WTVR

9 7 6 7 A powerful story. You got rare access into someone's life and highlighted what was important. The use of facial cutaways was nice while she was speaking. You needed one more, though...you repeated one of those shots. You make some nice subtle pushes during some interviews, but then when it comes to all of the images, the push is too fast and sloppy. I would have like to have seen more done with the pictures considering this was a long-term piece. The video during her prayer service was strange cutting from medium-to-medium-to-medium, with the inbetween shot from a highly pixelated source. I would have scrapped that cutaway that was lower quality video and used my own camera's different shots instead.
8 7 6 7 Nice piece. It's obvious you built great repore with the family for them to allow you into their lives with such a sensative matter. Kudos! You had some nice shots, nice pacing and especially the super tight shots worked well, (eyes, mouth ect.). I felt some of the slow pushes were unnecessay and the movement with the pictures needed to be slowed down a bit, a little to quick for a story of this nature. I don't think you needed to include the cell phone (i'm guessing) video. It was a bit jarring to me and think you would have been just fine using the video you had of her and even the still pic. Nicely done piece, keep it up!
7 8 7 7

Honorable Mention

Luke Rollins WBFF

6 8 7 8 A nice twist on the traditional sports package. While I liked the idea of wrapping the father/athlete package around a father and son in the stands, I think there were a couple of sloppy things there. Since you can't tell the PA announcer to stop talking during a game, smooth your audio in and out of sots more by dragging them further underneath the next and previous shots. You also broke up the beginning track so much that it lost a little meaning. Since this was a long-term package, I would to have loved to have seen you do more with the file video...maybe stage it with a projector or an old TV, The stand-up also suffered from Mexican music playing loudly over the PA, I would have waited until there was a break in the PA audio, or honestly, scrapped the stand-up all together because it was a static shot and didn't really do anything interesting.
6 9 8 8 Interesting take and I applaud thinking outside of the box! Solid shooting, editing and pacing. Though off the top, the breaking up of track with nats was jarring as opposed to what you were trying to do and keep the quick pace going. It's ok to speed it up and then slow it down and let it breathe for a bit. That mixture, when executed properly helps to mold a memorable story. I would have like to have seen and heard even more little moments trickled through the package of the father and son at the game. To me, that was the most memorable part to this story. Great teamwork and solid story. Keep it up!
6 8 7 8

Share this:

Join over 6,000 of the world's best visual journalists.

The NPPA Story As Told By Its Members

"If I made a list of everything being a member of NPPA and entering contests have taught me, it would be a page-turner! So to say being a member has molded me into the photographer I am today would be a huge understatement. The thing I learned the most by entering the quarterly clip contest, is the importance of meaningful shots and making sure to never miss the moment."

— Angie Dones, photojournalist, WTVF

"From the workshops, the camaraderie and the contests, the NPPA has been a major factor in taking my work to a high level. The Quarterly Clip Contest and Best of Photojournalism competition set the industry standard of not just high quality TV Photojournalism, but Journalism itself."

— Jed Gamber, chief photojournalist, WBFF

"I credit NPPA for giving me the tools and training to transition from being a newspaper still photojournalist to motion. I can't say enough about the workshops. I look forward to more NPPA training."